Meteor Shower
by AriMarvelUniverse
Summary: A companion to my We are Birds of Prey A.U with Robin and his twin sister. Slade orders Robin and Wren to steal an important, galactic artifact from a Jump City High Security facility. They fight not only the heroes, but the villains as well. Why are the Titans and the Justice League fighting so hard to keep it from Slade, and what exactly is his plan for H.I.V.E?
1. (Prolouge) Training

The thin, dark haired girl faced the three statuesque brawlers with no fear on her face, or the little bit of it that could be seen under her domino mask. She stood almost primly, like a well trained ballerina, ramrod straight and prime on the tip of her toes. Her expression was deadly serious, and all of her attention was focused on the men looming over her. She didn't tremble or shake, or even breathe deeply.  
She looked slightly ridiculous, like a little girl dressing up in her mother's old clothes. The black leotard she wore hung off her lithe frame. Her hands, face, and feet were uncovered, and she was completely unarmed. The men were equally still and tense. No one moved.

She was waiting...waiting for a sign or a signal.

One of the muscled men made a reflex-a quick swallow, and a blink that was too fast for the eye to see-but she saw it. When he lunged for her, fist balled and swinging for her collar bone, she was ready for him. She grabbed his hand in her own dainty ones as it moved for her neck and flung herself between his legs, tightening her body like a bow string and becoming a human trip wire for the second man who had leapt for her. He flew over her body headfirst into the wall, hitting it with a meaty smack and stunning himself.

The girl still held onto the first man's hand. He straightened and started to pull her into his body and lift her into the air in an enormous and deadly bear hug, determined to crush the life out of her. His biceps flexed, and her feet hung off the floor, but she suddenly threw her neck backwards with startling force and slammed the back of her head into the bridge of his nose, breaking it and his hold. She grabbed his other wrist and twisted down and outward, snapping it cleanly.

The man reeled back and yelled, dropping her to the floor. She fell and crouched on all fours as gracefully as a Siamese cat. The man held his limp wrist to his nose, which was pouring blood from both nostrils like a sink, and came after her again, roaring. The girl flipped herself backward and exploded into a powerful handspring that brought her heel into his face, shattering his jaw and shoving his ruined nose far into his brain. His face crumpled inward and he fell like a stone, dead before he hit the floor. Fresh gouts of blood mixed with lumpy grey matter spilled from the break.

The second man that had flown into the wall had straightened and came for her, throwing heavy punches. The girl dodged them like they were raindrops, avoiding his attacks deftly for a little while as he swung and jabbed. Suddenly, she darted forward and landed three punches on his face so fast and so hard that the cracks of impact blurred together. The first two causes bruises to blossom immediately, but on the third, her pointer finger flicked out and curled before she pulled her fist back, followed by a spurt of bright red that coated her hand.

The big man howled and stumbled back, one eye hanging loose from it's socket. His scream was cut short as she chopped him in the neck with the side of her hand, but before she could hit him again he grabbed her shoulder and flung her away into the wall. She seemed to float as he did so, defying gravity itself as she met and kicked herself off the wall, bouncing back to him like a rubber ball. Her momentum carried her upwards, and she landed on his back. He whirled and twisted, but she hooked her leg around his throat and let herself fall to the ground in a dizzying spiral.

His spine broke and snapped like dry twigs, loud and final. She kicked him away, his neck hanging at an impossible angle, and crouched low in time to avoid a bullet aimed right at her skull. The third man had removed a pistol from his holster, and he was aiming it dead in the middle of her forehead. She skipped away as a spray of bullets chased her around the room, slamming into the walls and just barely missing her. One clipped her thigh, but she didn't flinch. The mirrors that had been reflecting the battle shattered and fell in deadly sharp pieces. The girl swooped one up and chucked it like a throwing knife with deadly accuracy. The shard of glass glittered as it flew through the air before it lodged itself in the man's throat. His gun fell from his fingers as he sank to his knees, gurgling softly as be drowned in his own blood, and then there was silence.

The girl watched him die coolly, waiting until she was sure she had seen the last of the light fade from his eyes before she stood and looked around the training room, still tight and tense, hardly even breathing hard. The slightest glimmer of sweat shone on her neck and forehead, and she was spattered with blood that pooled in shiny, rancid puddles at her feet. She wiped her hands on her clothes and turned to the back wall, where a large scoreboard hung suspended. Numbers appeared, red and blaring- 96. The girl cursed and kicked the empty gun across the room in anger.

"He's being nice, you know. You did get shot, after all."

The girl spun around to face the shadowy figure that had appeared in the corner, but instead of attacking it, she snorted and waved the comment away. "Whatever, Robin. I didn't get shot-it barely grazed me. He cheated me." The other figure moved away from the wall and into the light, showing itself to be a lean, handsome boy of the same age with toussled black hair and wearing an identical mask over his eyes, clad in sweaty and blood stained exercise gear. Robin smirked and put a hand on her shoulder. He was almost two inches taller than her, but up close they were like mirror images of each other. "Aw, don't be sour, Wren. I was only two points ahead of you. Your timing was better. If that bullet hadn't hit you, you would have beaten me. He knows that." His teeth showed in a wide smile. "I liked how you used the glass...that was pretty aster."

Wren smiled and undid her black hair, wringing it out. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks for being nice. That was pretty easy, though...those guys were really stupid. I wish it had been more of a challenge. They barely whelmed me."

Her brother suddenly winced and sighed, rubbing at the edge of his mask. His smile faded. "Yeah, well...you're about to get your wish. We have an assignment, and he wants to see us right away." Wren stilled and glanced at him, all of the joking tone leaving her voice. "Did he say what it was this time?"

Robin shook his head, tense and fearful. "He didn't say anything, only to get you when you were done and report. Immediately." he stressed. Wren gulped noisily and took a deep breath, steeling herself. "Well...I'm done. He did say immediately."

Seeing the fear that she was trying to hide, Robin grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles briefly before letting go. She smiled at him weakly, then let his hand slip away. Both of them stepped over the fallen bodies and exited the room without a backward glance.


	2. Mission Briefing

They emerged from the training room blood spattered and soaked in gore and sweat, but in record time both Robin and Wren were clean and adorned in their uniforms.  
Burnt orange and silver metal plates layered over black kevlar, emblazoned with a bloody R over the heart that looked like it had been cut with a knife. Wren's was identical, like their physical look, but her uniform sported a slashed blue W. The malevolent mark of Slade glimmered on their belts, packed with hundreds of deadly tools and weapons.

They entered his room at the same time, close enough to be seen as together but not touching.  
The control room was covered in surveillance screens that moved and flickered, feeds from all over the city and others. Jump, Gotham, Star, Metropolis, Bludhaven...there was Titan Tower, and Mt. Justice. Some of the images were unknown.

Slade stood in the middle of it all, a calm warlord watching his kingdom. He had his hands clasped behind his back, and his one bright blue eye was staring unblinkingly at the monitors. The lights flickered off of his slitted mask, and his muscles bulged through his suit. Robin and Wren stopped about three feet from him, heads bowed respectfully. Slade didn't turn or even acknowledge their presence, but they knew much better than to talk until he did.

"I was watching the training videos." he said finally, his voice dripping quiet menace and power that was nearly taste able. "You are getting sloppy, Wren." The comment was casual, offhand, but she still shivered at the implication. "It's nothing, Master. I miscalculated my jump, and-"

"No excuses." She shut up immediately. There was a longer period of silence this time, and Robin shuffled uneasily.

"There is something that I need the two of you to accomplish for me, but I only want you to do it if you're at your top conditions. That means no mistakes, no errors, and no...miscalculations." Wren swallowed and ducked her head. "Yes, Master."

Slade gestured at one of the screens. "Three days from now, an expo will be held at the Gotham Science and Space exploration museum. They plan to exhibit a very rare and important artifact that I require. Tonight, this artifact is being moved from Metropolis and stored in a high security facility. You two will retrieve this artifact either from the convoy or from the facility. Succeed, and you will be rewarded. Fail.."

He didn't need to finish. Recently, Super Man and his clone had demolished one of Slade's primary factories, and they hadn't been able to stop him. The consequences had been brutal.

Robin dipped his head. "We won't let you down, Master." He flashed Wren an excited grin, which she returned. Their adrenaline surged at the very mention of a new mission.

"See that you don't, my apprentice. Dismissed..."

***

"So, what do we have, Robin?"  
Robin hunched over the tablet device in his room, reading their mission notes and objectives. "It's pretty simple, actually. A high security convoy is transporting an unknown payload from Metropolis to Gotham in twelve hours. I've hacked the files and downloaded the route to our GPS." Wren giggled. "Robin Deathstrike, hacker extraordinair!" Robin rolled his eyes and continued. "Certain members of the Leauge have been recruited to protect the truck, so...it'll probably be best if we just follow it and retrieve the artifact from the facility later." Wren shrugged and strapped on her arm brace. "Fine with me. Is it fragile?"

"Super fragile. Like, insanely fragile. And extremely dangerous, so the usual deal." Robin touched something on the pad. "Oh, Wren...Super breath's not going to be there. He's not part of the convoy..and neither is Baby Super Breath. That's weird." Wren peeked over his shoulder at the data. "That is weird...but it's good for us."

"Yup." Robin tapped the tablet, and it went dark. He stood up and stretched, running a hand through his messy black spikes. "Well, we better make for the bridge if we want to get there by nightfall. That's when the truck rolls out." Wren nodded and plucked the tablet out of his hand. "Yeah, just...just one second. I have to..."

Robin grimaced and crossed his arms over his steel covered chest."Ooh...are you calling your girlfriend?" he called. Wren ignored him and activated the program. She smiled as a face surrounded by a halo of blonde and magenta hair appeared, with mismatched eyes and a puggish nose. "Hey, Bailey."

Bailey snorted and leaned away from the screen. "That is so not my name anymore, WYLLOW. My villian name is Clairvoyance." Wren rolled her masked eyes. Bailey Cross had been her roomate at H.I.V.E Academy for young villains, where Slade had forced them to live for two years after Wren had killed Terra. She was almost as good a fighter as Robin, aided by her precognition and ability to see the immediate future.

"Sure thing, Bailey. I'll call you Clairvoyance when you finally graduate." Bailey laughed and pointed her finger into the screen. "Hey, some of us have to work for our evil diploma. We can't all be Deathstrike's kids. Um, Wren...is R-Robin there?" Wren grinned knowingly. Bailey had harbored a crush on Robin since they walked through the Academy's front door.

"What's going on, Bailey?" Robin laughed, waving over his sister's shoulder. Bailey blushed and waved back. "You guys look all suited up. What's happening?"  
"Top secret mission, Bail. Even we don't know what we're doing yet."

"We gotta go, sis..."

"Oh, fine...Bye, Bailey...ooh, wait, sorry...Clairvoyance." Wren snickered. Bailey waved, and the transmission cut off. Wren's eyes turned wistful. Bailey was her best friend, besides her brother. If Slade knew she was still talking to her, she'd be punished, but she couldn't help it. She was her only link to a semi normal life she had left.

"You ready?" Robin asked, putting on his cycle helmet and flipping the visor down over his face. Wren nodded and grabbed her own. "Yeah...let's go rip off an armoured convoy."

***

There was a rainstorm brewing in Gotham...go figure. The front and back tires of the sleek black motorbike with the orange insignia kicked up fountains of smelly water as it sped through the streets. It's riders-Robin in front, Wren in back-seemed untouched by the heavy drops. Wren pulled one arm away from Robin's waist and turned on the com link built into her helmet. "Are we there yet?"  
Robin smiled through his visor as they blew across the Gotham bridge. "Almost, kiddies. Just sit tight."


	3. Recon

(A/N: Check it out, people...I shall give you a few hints.

The real aster fighting comes DIRECTLY AFTER this chapter, so don't give up on this story. But I had to show what happened when they stole it. Also, ITS NOT THE USUAL KRYPTONITE, so don't think I cheated you, okay? There's a twist here, and yes, they will be captured...BUT NOT BY WHO YOU THINK.)

«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»

When the motorcycle finally came to a stop, and the engine hum died down to a silent rumble, Wren and Robin dismounted it swiftly, shaking out their drenched hair and emptying water out of the barrels of their guns.

"Jeez...I haven't been this wet since we blew a hole in the Gotham Dam." Wren complained, drying her communicator. Robin laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. That was great, though, it looked like Noah's Flood...until a certain someone plugged the break with freeze breath."  
Wren's face darkened, and she cocked her pistol angrily. "Yeah. Alien asshole. Why is it always him and the clone that gets us in trouble?" Robin shrugged one shoulder and glanced at her smugly, a wicked gleam in his eye that she could see even behind the mask. "Mm. Well, that won't be a problem today."

He tilted his head back and looked at the darkening sky. "We need to get stationed. We've got about an hour until the convoy rolls through this location."  
They were in the industrial part of Gotham, near a factory that was about twenty meters away from the outer limit of the security facility. Robin activated the cloaking device on their bike, and they both climbed up the factory fire escape to wait.

"Wren, I got movement. Thermo...looks like we were right. Miss M's using her inviso-trick."  
"WE were right? I was right. You owe me five bucks, Dick."  
"How's your leg, baby sister?"  
"Shut up..."

Both twins hit the thermo scans in their masks and crouched closer to the edge of the factory roof, shivering with excitement. The huge bank truck was invisibility to the eye, but clear as day to them. They watched it roll towards the front fence, followed closely by Miss Martian's heat signature. It came to a stop, and the green skinned girl made herself visible, floating a few inches above the ground. Miss Martian glanced around warily, nodded at an unheard message, then closed her eyes and placed her fingers to her temple, sending out a widescale telepathic scan.  
"*Oh damn, I hate this part...*"

Robin and Wren winced in pain as the tiny devices embedded in the base of their skulls vibrated and pinged, effectively scrambling their brain waves and rendering them invisible to telepathy. Slade had the scramblers put in their heads after they had been discovered like that their third mission...after their beating.

Miss Martian nodded again, and another super sidekick became visible as she swooped silently out of the sky- Hawk Girl.

Hawk Girl opened her mouth and let loose an inaudible screech at the same time that Robin hit a sonic switch on his arm brace, covering the both of them with low frequency sound waves that blocked her echolocation. She closed her mouth, satisfied, and Wren and Robin snickered soundlessly. "*Well, now that THAT'S over.*" Wren grinned. Robin's shoulders shook with dark humor. "*Give us audio.*" Wren obliged and flicked yet another switch, turning on the mini satellite they had set up on the opposite roof. After a few seconds, their voices were coming through loud and clear.

"-...Sure that no one's here?" Martian was saying, wringing her hands nervously. Hawk Girl nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yes. No enemy can hide from telepathy AND sonar."  
"Who else is coming?"  
"Wally, Artemis, and Bat Girl...and I believe Conner is coming, too."  
"Conner? But that's...He was told specifically-"  
"He convinced Batman. He wanted to see this through."

"*Crap.*" Wren hissed. Robin's teeth showed. "*Crap.*" he agreed.

"*Why do you think-*" Wren started, but cut herself short as a red blur entered the scene. The blur solidified into a skinny redhead in a ketchup and mustard suit with a pissed off archer on his back. "Heyyo, everybody!" Kid Flash started, before Artemis slapped him on the back of the head. "Shut up, Baywatch, and let me down. You draw enough attention even when you're standing still." The redhead pouted and dropped her on her butt, then blurred out of the way of a sharp whack from her bow. Hawkgirl glared icily at the both of them. "Stop messing around. The perimeter is secure, we're just waiting for Conner."

"You don't have to wait any longer, I'm here." Kon-El responded, walking up. Even from a distance, Wren could see that he looked pale and weary, almost sunken.

"*He looks sick.*"  
"*Good. Bastard.*"

"And I brought someone with me...apparently Batman thought we might need some help." he said. Behind him trailed half of the the Teen Titans- Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"*Where's Princess Light Brite and the Grim Reaper?*" Robin mused. Wren nudged him and shushed him, even though she was wondering the same thing.

"What? No way, Con, we don't need any help. Uncle Barry said-"  
"This is OUR city, KID Flash." Cyborg cut in, crossing his massive arms over his metal plated chest. His one red eye gleamed angrily. Kid Flash copied him, but it looked much less impressive on his bean pole frame. "The only reason we drove the thing through here is cause you guys have the lamest villains-"

"Where's the rest of the leauge?" Beast Boy spoke up. "They decided we could handle this." Artemis told him.  
"Yeah, we don't need those old guys. So, we wanna get this party started?"

One by one, the sidekicks filed into the truck, and it rolled through the gates, flanked by gun toting guards.

Wren sat up and stretched her arm out, glancing at her brother. "It's just the sidekicks tonight...No adult supervision required." Robin nodded, turning off the satellites and racking his own gun. "Yup...Mommy and Daddy are out of the house. Let's go throw a party."

«»«»«»

They only had to wait a little while until the gates opened again and the truck rode back out, moving faster than before. Once it reached the street, Robin and Wren stood up on their perch.

Two loud pops sounded in the air, and the two guards that had been stationed on the roof dropped to the ground with two huge holes blown into their skulls. Bone and gore flew like confetti.  
Wren blew imaginary smoke from her pistol while Robin fake applauded her.

Robin removed a grappling gun from his belt and aimed it carefully at the roof of the security facility. He pulled the trigger with ease, and the hook flew through the air and latched onto the edge of the railing. He stepped back and bowed mockingly. "After you, sis." Wren fit her hands into a pair of blue kevlar gloves and grabbed the cord, arching herself gracefully off the roof and zipping silently towards the facility, Robin flying in right behind her.  
They came to gentle rolls beside the leaking bodies, unhooking the grappling line as they landed. A well placed bomb disk destroyed the lock on the roof entrance, and they slipped inside.  
They landed soundlessly in a dark corridor and didn't move again, scanning the surrounding area with ears more than eyes. Robin pulled another small tablet from a slim, metallic backpack and typed in another code. The motion sense cameras above them hissed with static, then went dead.

They both stood up and grinned, blood flowing hot and fast. They had learned to enjoy this, the rush of adrenaline and danger. Learned to love it, too. The halls were deadly quiet as they crept through them, follwing Robin's digital map.

The chamber with the artifact was darker than tar, but their thermo and night vision scans worked perfectly. They could see each other and the enormous metal case in the center of the room. Robin put a hand on Wren's shoulder to stop her from moving forward, gesturing at the thin red laser lines criss crossing the floor like a spiderweb. She raised an eyebrow. 'Is that it? That's insulting.' He smiled and reached for his pad again. The lasers flickered and sputtered before going out, and they advanced toward the secure looking case. A strip of glowing blue light glimmered along the seam of the metal box.

"Pressure alarm," he breathed. "I got this..."

He dipped his hand into his belt and removed it with a smear of something clear on his finger that he spread on the thick metal in a wide circle. The area he touched smoked and sizzled as the substance ate away at it. They both inhaled sharply as the mystery artifact became visible...

A glowing chunk of green rock, about the size of a large water bottle. Wren clicked her teeth in annoyance. "Oh what the...Kryptonite?! THIS is what he wanted us to risk our necks for? What a waste of time."

Robin frowned and crossed his arms. "That can't be it-we must have made a mistake. Lex Luthor could have sold us a ton of this stuff. This can't be what we came here for."

Wren stuck her hand in the hole and withdrew the Kryptonite, studying it. Now that she looked at it, it didn't look like normal Kryptonite. The green was brighter than usual, and it was laced with thick lines of pulsating black and red, like bloody veins. Her brow furrowed. "Robin...something's wrong with this Krypto-"

Suddenly, the lights in the room blared, blinding them both. They flinched and backpeddled, frantically turning off their thermo as the shadows bled out of the room. The altered Kryptonite wobbled in Wren's fingers.

The two missing members of the Teen Titans stood on the opposite end of the case, looking grim and ready for a fight. Raven's eyes were glowing with black light that writhed over her fingers, manipulating the dark. "That is none of your concern." she deadpanned, face set and emotionless. StarFire clenched her fists and drifted closer, green light in her eyes. "Put that back, please, apprentices of the evil Slade. That is not yours." Wren sneered at her and clutched the space rock closer. "No can do, Glow Stick. Finder's Keepers, losers weepers. We're taking this home to our Master."

"But thanks for keeping it safe for us." Robin added sarcastically.

"You will not leave this building with that meteor."

"Stop us."

Robin flung a handful of disk bombs at the both of them that exploded upon contact with Raven's black shield, filling the room with smoke and knocking the case loose. A blaring alarm began to ring, ear splitting and screeching. Starfire fired blindly into the haze, coughing. Raven waved her hand and cleared the smog, revealing nothing but an empty room and a missing ceiling tile. She blinked once and raised her wrist to her lips.

"Titans and Young Justice- the criminals Robin and Wren have stolen the Kryptonite. They are in the ventilation system and headed for the outside. Meet them and prepare for combat."

«»«»«»

They scurried through the ventilation system hurriedly, breathing hard and trembling. It wasn't that they had been caught...that didn't matter. But the entire Teen Titans and the baby JLA had shown up and knew they were there. Those odds were a little stacked, even for them.

Robin put his fist through the roof entrance and pulled himself through, reaching back to help his sister. His handsome face was contorted with anger. "Shit shit shit..." Wren crested the opening and stretched her hand to him-the hand that had been holding the Kryptonite...

The hand that was now grey and diseased looking, laced with the same red and black lines that were on the rock itself. She gasped in pain and horror, flinging her hand around and around in momentary panic. The rock had bonded to her skin, and the nasty color was spreading up her arm. "Robin-!"

He let out a strangled cry at seeing her hurt and snatched at her limb, gently removing the meteor from her fingers. It throbbed with sick green light as he peeled it away from the fused skin. Her fingers hissed and burned like acid, but as more of the rock came away from her flesh, it returned to her natural pale pink color. Wren chomped down on her lip to hold in her screams. When Robin detached the Kryptonite from her hand, she leaned back and cradled it to her chest, shaking harder than ever. "Kry-Kryptonite d-DOSENT do that." Robin nodded slowly, staring at it distrustfully. "No shit, sis."

"Slade...why didn't he-"

"I don't know." he cut her off, removing a steel container from his backpack and carefully putting the rock inside. "But right now we need to focus on getting out of here alive." He sealed the canister and sat it down, then turned to her with worry on his face, inspecting her hand. "Are you okay?" Miraculously, she was fine, and she was already regaining her tough composure. "I'm fine. But I'm pissed, and I really want to hit something...I don't care what it is at this point." she growled, flexing her sore fingers. Robin helped her up, and they both looked over the edge of the roof at the mass of sidekicks waiting for them.

"Then you're in the right place."


	4. Battle for Kryptonite PT one

For a while, they just stared at each other blankly- Robin and Wren from the roof, and the small mob of super kids surrounding the building beneath them. Every face was grim and set-no one really wanted this fight. It was almost surreal, the calm before the storm, as if everyone there knew that they were supposed to be fighting together, not with each other. The sidekicks knew that the criminals were supposed to be heroes, helping them protect what they had stolen. The criminals knew it, too.  
But something had gone awfully, terribly wrong. Something that was evil incarnate, in a one eyed mask. Standing there, on the roof, the twins saw what had been taken from them by Slade, and their hearts sank.

A flash of green light and an explosion shook them from their thoughts as Starfire burst through the opening and fired at their backs, sending them twirling to the ground seconds before the blasts hit their marks. Robin grabbed onto a window ledge with his hand and snatched Wren out of the air, flipping them both around like trapeze artists in a circus. He landed a minute in front of his sister, both of them standing side by side. Their bodies were tight and tense, but their faces were masks of casual ease.

"Well, well, well...the gang's all here. What's up, Super Babies?" Robin cackled, grinning widely underneath his mop of black hair. He looked slightly insane. Wren cocked her hip flirtaciously at Super Boy. "Hey, Conner, you look pale. Did you catch something?"

"Yeah," the clone growled, flexing his arms threatningly. "A pair of filthy thieves." Wren smiled and tossed her head. "Aw, and we thought you didn't like us. How nice of you." Robin snorted and stepped forward, like they were just going to walk out. "This was nice, but we've got an appointment to keep." He turned as Starfire and Raven drifted down from the sky, boxing them in. "We told you before. You will not leave with that meteor."

"What, this?" Wren asked innocently, gesturing at the canister. "This is a souvenir, from the fabulously trashy Jump City. A little gemstone, that's all." Artemis rolled her eyes and gripped her bow in a tight, sweaty hand. She looked nervous. "Look, we don't...we don't want a fight. But you don't know what you're doing."

Despite looking sick and shaky, Super Boy strode forward and shoved his face into Robin's, towering over the smaller boy. "You have one chance, rat. Give us the rock, before I kick you out of orbit." Robin sneered confidently, the hate in his eyes burning through his blank white mask. He despised the clone, and it was clear in every line of his body. "It's INTO orbit, test tube. And I'd really, really like to see you try."

"Con-"  
"Supe, wait, Bat said-"  
Ignoring them all, Super Boy threw his fist into Robin's face hard enough to crumple tank armor, hatred fueling his hit. The punch almost landed-his knuckle grazed Robin's jaw bone and sent him flying backwards.

But he didn't fall out cold. At the last minute, he had rolled his head to the side and followed the punch, using the momentum to flip and land on his feet. A flash of silver gleamed in the moon light-while he had been in Conner's face, Robin had extended his bo staff by his side, which he know flung at the clone. Super Boy jumped backwards and into the air to avoid it.

"Take out Slade's rats-NOW!"

The other sidekicks surged forward. A barrage of arrows, starbolts, and inky black spears flew towards them. Beast Boy shifted into an enormous green wolf and leaped, roaring, at Wren, spit flying from his fanged jaws. He landed on her and snapped and growled, trapping her under huge claws. The canister containing the Kryptonite was knocked free from her hands as she wrestled with him.

Miss Martian dove for it, but Robin fired his gun at her and punctured her cape, barely missing her side. She spun away, then placed her hands on her head and squinted her eyes. Robin only grinned as the device in his skull vibrated harder than ever. The green girl cried out and sank to the ground, blood pouring from her nose and tears in her eyes. "N-no telepathy...I c-can't put them down..."

Artemis fired a quick three arrows at him, two of which stuck in his arm and left leg and staggered him. She yelled triumphantly, aiming again, but Robin laughed and snapped the arrows free of his armour. She growled and kept firing, along with Cyborg and Starfire. Robin became a moving target, dancing around the edges of the lot and just missing the projectiles. He kicked his staff towards Wren, who snatched it out of the air with one hand and slammed the side of it into Beast Boy's muzzle. He howled and released her, but came back snarling, striking at her throat.

She jumped on his back and wrapped a thick cord around his neck like a leash, looking like a crazy cowgirl as he bucked and writhed, trying to toss her off. Hawk Girl swooped at her from above, swinging at her head with her mace. Wren raised her good arm and hit the sonic switch on her brace to maximum volume, letting go of Beast Boy to do so. She could only hold him with her weakened hand- the one that had been affected by the corrupted Kryptonite. She flew off his back, unable to hang on, and landed hard on the wet concrete, winded and gasping. She thought she heard something snap, and agony radiated through her chest.

Beast Boy started letting out piercing, pitiful whines as the sonics ripped his hearing apart. He howled and curled painfully on the ground, turning back into a screaming boy, holding his ears.

"B.B!" Wren's vision swam from the hard landing, but she felt herself lifted into the air by an invisible hand. Darkness grabbed her from the ground and dropped her at Cyborg's feet, who scooped her up by the throat and held her at eye level. Despite the pain in her side, she still managed to smirk. "H-hey, Vicky..."

"Bitch." Cyborg spat, holding her higher and tightening his grip. Her feet dangled a foot and a half off the ground. She kicked at his abdomen, but they recoiled off his hard metal plating. The pieces of her broken rib scraped and pulled, and fuzzy darkness began to gather at the corners of her eyes. She was in the wrong position to head butt him, and her side flamed. Wren was passing out.

"Rob...in..."

She knew he wouldn't hear her. Wouldn't...

Cyborg yelled out and dropped her as another flash of light lit up the area. Starfire, intent on hitting Robin, had allowed him to distract her long enough so he could position himself directly behind Cyborg. The alien girl, not thinking, had then hit her own teammate. Cyborg turned around and tried to grab Robin before he slipped away.

Wren rolled to her knees and clutched her side, inhaling through the pain and pushing the pain to the back of her mind, the way Slade had showed them by injecting them with adrenaline and then beating them senseless. Unable to pass out, they had been forced to fight...or die.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the edge of the canister lying on the ground,c and started to scramble towards it, before everything was lost in a huge, roaring whirlwind of red and yellow. Kid Flash had spotted her and had begun to circle her in a human tornado, throwing random kicks and punches faster than she could see. He caught her in the ribs, and she bit back a scream. An invisible foot knocked her hand away from the canister and an invisible hand grabbed it up. Shielding her face, Wren dug into her belt once more and removed a handful of marble sized balls-but they weren't bombs.

She tossed them into the midst of the tornado, and a large, crackling electric charge flew from them, lighting the speedster up like a Christmas tree. He stopped cold with his foot inches away from her nose, twitching and paralyzed before dropping unconscious and steaming to the ground. Wren kicked him away brutally and recovered the canister, feeling battered but still fighting. She removed her gun and aimed it at the sky, pulling the trigger and blowing a bloody hole in one of Hawk Girl's wings. She screamed and dipped dangerously. Wren started to fire again, but three of Artemis's arrows caught her in the knee.

Robin kicked Cyborg in the head and dropped him, then turned and blasted Raven with a flash grenade. It caught Starfire as well, and both girls clutched their hands over their eyes, blinded. Artemis darted forward, but he quickly disposed of her with a few punches to the skull. She fell at his feet, blood staining her long blonde hair. Miss Martian tackled him from behind. Robin flipped her and grabbed a broken arrowhead from the ground, jamming it deep into her arm. It looked like there was no stopping him as the Titans and the sidekicks fell around him like dominoes.

"Wren, we have-!"

"ENOUGH!"

The thin boy spun around with an expectant sneer on his face. Super Boy stormed towards him, flying in at the speed of a fighter jet. His eyes flashed an ugly red.  
"THIS ENDS HERE, RAT!"  
"BRING IT, E.T!"

Wren gasped in horror as her brother leapt to meet the raging clone.

«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»

(DUNH DUNH DUNH...CLIFF HANGER! MWAHAHAHA!  
The battle will continue...in the next chapter.)


	5. Interception

The sound it created when they met...like solid cement on flesh. It made the entire group flinch as one. Everything else was forgotten about. Starfire stopped mid dive to watch Robin and Super Boy collide, descending slowly towards the ground with a horrified expression on her face.  
Wren was also forgotten, still kneeling next to the dented steel container and holding her broken rib. There was no other sound except for the grunts and exchange of hard blows between Robin and the clone.  
It was an impasse- no one was gaining the upper hand. As soon as they met, Robin ducked the skull cracking haymaker aimed at his face and slammed his fist into the back of Conner's head. Any other person would have dropped- but not Super Boy. He flicked the hit away like a fly and kept at it, battering Robin with a barrage of fatal hits.

Where Super Boy was powerful, Robin was fast and resilient. He dodged most of the strikes and landed a few, but Super Boy was...Super Boy. Damnear indestructible.  
And aiming to kill. His punches were hitting Robin's chest, neck, and solar plexus, trying to crush and rupture his organs. Eventually, Robin would lose. But his hatred kept him going. It wasn't about the Kryptonite anymore-, or what Slade would do to them if they lost. It was about Kon-El.

Wren brought her hands to her face and whimpered as she watched her brother fighting. He was using all of his skills, but the super clone was raging and unstoppable. She watched the bruises form on his skin, ugly purple blotches that throbbed and pulsed. She felt each hit as if she was getting beaten, moaning in sympathy. Robin's blood flew across the lot, streaming from the side of his mouth and from a deep cut under his eye. His left wrist hung at an awkward angle, and his nose was slightly swollen. But the arrogant sneer on his face didn't fade, and the taunts never stopped.

"That all you got, test tube?" he spat, reeling a little after a vicious kick to the knee. He was refusing to use his gadgets against the clone, even the most dangerous ones. He kept fighting hand to hand as if he didn't know that he possesed Nega-Rays in his arm braces.  
Super Boy bared his teeth and struck out again, catching Robin on the collarbone. The snap of bone made Wren's stomach turn. "Not...even...close..." He was nearly as beat up as Robin was.  
Robin was slowing down. Most of his face was smeared with his own blood. Wren silently begged him to stop fighting. Kid Flash had grabbed her arm, but she didn't even notice. Every time he got hit, a hole was punched in her heart. But she was frozen to the spot, mute with fear. She was convinced that she was going to watch her brother die. Super Boy wasn't stopping, and the other sidekicks started seeing it, to.  
"C-con..."  
"Supe...ease up, dude..."  
"Conner..."  
"Kon El...!"

He didn't hear them. A red haze had descended over everything, and all he could see was the skinny, black haired rat in front of him, trying to steal what was rightfully his. Taunting him, mocking him, evading him...and the little bastard was STILL SMILING!

"STOP SMILING, DAMN IT!"

And his fist dropped directly into the center of Robin's chest, blowing him a meter backwards. Wren heard a scream, then realized it was her own. Robin landed on the ground like a lead bar, gasping loudly for breath and shuddering in pain. His leg was twisted the wrong way, and a huge dent marred the armor over his chest. Super Boy floated after him slowly, a grim scowl on his face as he glared down at him. "You two think you're so untouchable." he snarled. "That nothing can stop you, and that you're above everyone else. You're WRONG. Dead wrong."

Robin hacked up a fountain of blood and struggled to stand up, holding his leg a good three inches of the ground. "A-at least I was b-born. I w-wasn't M-Made. Y-you're nothing b-but a failsafe. A c-copy. A f-fake."

Fury flashed in the clone's eyes. "And you're nothing but a powerless rat!" he roared, rearing his fist back one last time.

"CONNER!" Miss Martian screamed, at the same time that Wren let out a shriek.  
"RICHARD!"  
Super Boy's final swing faltered for just a moment as he turned and caught the martian's tear streaked face. The rage flickered, replaced by confusion. It was all Wren needed. She twisted out of Kid Flash's weak hold and rammed her elbow into his face, then kicked the container of Kryptonite at her brother's back. Robin turned almost casually and caught it, as if he had been expecting it. When he turned back around, Super Boy's guard was still down. Moving too quickly for someone so hurt, Robin broke the seal on the container and shoved the contents into Kon El's face.

Super Boy howled and staggered back from the glowing rock, covering his face with his hands. Red and black lines had begun spreading over the side of his face like burns, and the skin turned a diseased looking grey, like zombie skin. It was just like with Wren's hand, except that on him, it spread much faster and was ten times more painful. He batted Robin away, gagging, and collapsed. All of the other sidekicks cried out and rushed toward him. Wren, however, moved for her brother, ignoring everything else but his battered body. She darted over to him and hauled him up, bracing him with her shoulder. "You idiot!" she hissed, pushing him away from the lot and the circle of sidekicks. They only had a short window to escape, while the others were distracted.

"Were you trying to get yourself killed?!" she snarled in his ear. "Did you even think about what it would do to me if he..." her breath choked off at the possibility. Robin let out a bloody chuckle, patting her head weakly. " He wasn't going...to kill me. He's to...much of...a hero. Nice...to know...you care so much. Love...you too, Minnow." Wren rolled her eyes and quickened her steps, headed for their bike. He sounded like me was close to passing out. "Did...you get...the-...?"  
"I got it." she growled. "Now hush." The dangerous canister was now concealed in her own metal back pack.

They had almost rounded the side of the factory building where their bike was parked and concealed. Robin's head rolled on his shoulders, and his breath rasped in his chest, but she could feel him getting stronger. "Almost there," she whispered, supporting his thin body with her own. She propped him up against the wall while she strapped the container to the bike, then eased him onto the back gently.

She froze when she heard the roar of the enraged clone behind her. "WHERE ARE THE RATS?!" Seconds later, an inaudible tingle in the air made her hair stand up- sonic radar. They'd been found again.

"Around the building!"  
"Get em! Don't let them get away!"  
"Hurry! Get up!"

Wren screeched out curses as she leapt on the bike and kicked it to life. The bike roared and spat up greasy water as they tore away from the frustrated yells. Unseen by Wren and Robin, a small piece of soggy paper flew from the back tire and landed in a puddle. A playing card, with the image of a joker stamped on the front. As it landed in the water, the edges began to burn.

Wren struggled to control the bike in the wet deluge. The rain storm washed the blood from their bodies, leaving them looking exactly like drowned rats. She activated her communication link in her helmet, unaware of the steam billowing from the tailpipe. "Master! We retrieved the stone, but Robin is injured and-!"

The bike exploded, pitching them both from their seats and onto the unforgiving asphalt. Time moved in slow motion as they flew into the air and landed heavily, hearing bones snap and watching blood squirt. The pieces of the sleek motorcycle rained down on them like oversized drops of water. Wren's vision glazed over and started to go black. She heard Robin's body hit the ground some feet away, and the muffled chatter of the sidekicks horrified yelps. The smell of oil and burning metal was everywhere.

She tried to open her mouth, to yell for her brother, but the words wouldn't come. The world spun.

The last thing she saw before she blacked out completely was a demonically pale face surrounded by a halo of acid green hair, sporting a slashed, scarlet grin. The face leaned down to watch while her mouth worked pathetically, grinning all the while. "Hola, pretty birdie!" It was the last thing she heard before she faded out.

***

The Joker watched the girl's eyes go blank behind her stupid little domino mask. Her head dropped to the pavement with a nice smack, and blood trickled from her ear and into her long wet hair. He clicked his teeth at her and recovered the communicator by her red stained hand, putting it to his mouth. "Hel-looo? City Mourge?"

"*Wren?! Wren, do you cop-...*what is your sta...*"

The clown smiled gruesomely into the little speaker. "Why, Deathstrike! Fancy hearing from you. We haven't talked in ages!" He looked down at the still girl. "Sorry, the kids can't come to the phone right now. Poor things, all tuckered out. I'm afraid they'll have to stay the night at Unky Joker's house. But don't worry- we'll have loads of fun, just we three! Nighty night!"

He killed the communication, then brushed the debris from his ragged purple suit. "Upsy Daisy!" The clown scooped Wren into his arms and slung her over his back, striding away and leaving Robin to the fast approaching mob of sidekicks on his tail. He would have liked to take the boy, too, but there was no time. One would have to do, for now.

***

There was blood in his throat, leaking from his ears...He couldn't hear, and couldn't talk. The world was a blur of color, noise, and pain, some of the worst he'd ever felt. He didn't know what was happening.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"  
"Are...are they...dead?"  
"The motorcycle..."  
"Where's Wren?"  
"Call the leauge! Hurry, he's really..."

"Ohmygod he's passing-..."

"Robin? Do not worry. We will not let you die this day."


End file.
